National News

Southwest Plane Lands at Wrong Airport

by Kate Seamons, Newser Staff

(NEWSER) – "The landing was uneventful, and all customers and crew are safe," says a Southwest Airlines rep of Flight 4013. So why is it making headlines? Because the flight, with 124 passengers and another five crew, was supposed to travel from Chicago's Midway to Branson Airport in southwest Missouri yesterday. Instead it landed at another airport about seven miles away ... that only had about half as much runway. CNN reports that the pilot had to "do a lot of heavy braking," but managed to stop the plane about 300 feet before the end of the 3,738-foot runway; Branson's runway is 7,140 feet. A passenger tells the network the pilot then said, "Welcome to Branson."